


where you're needed

by Krewlak



Series: don't you know you're all i want under the tree? [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Scerek Holiday 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 03:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8874676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krewlak/pseuds/Krewlak
Summary: He blinks for a second, staring at the Christmas tree display in the window of some new, trendy consignment shop that wasn’t there when he left. How could he not realize that it was Christmas?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd so any mistakes are mine.

He comes home a week before Christmas. He’s halfway to the loft when he notices the string lights and the various other little signs that say the holiday season is happening. He blinks for a second, staring at the Christmas tree display in the window of some new, trendy consignment shop that wasn’t there when he left. 

 

How could he not realize that it was Christmas? 

 

Derek counts down the days since he left Braeden in Canada. That had been during the tale end of winter - after the new year, after Valentine’s Day. Then there was traveling across the country, stopping in New York just to see the city again. That was probably when he stopped counting days, when he stopped keeping a perfect calendar in his head of how long he’d been away from Beacon Hills. 

 

He’d spent months in Peru with Cora, trying to be a brother to her again. She hadn’t let him, had sneered at every attempt he’d made to bond. It took him two months to figure out that meant Cora liked him. At the very least, it explained why so many of Cora’s pack would snicker when he pouted after one of their many arguments. 

 

But then Cora had sat him down one day, small hands on his shoulders. She frowned so deeply and for a second he thought he was looking at his mother. Derek had taken a deep breath and covered one of her hands with his own, “Cora?”

 

“Go home, Derek,” she said. He sat back with a huff, letting his hand slip off of hers. She sighed and looked down at her knees, letting go of him to dig her fingers into her thighs. “This isn’t your pack, Derek.”

 

“It could be,” he said, knowing how childish that sounded. Cora snorted and looked up at him, eyebrow raised. Derek sighed and looked away, clenching his jaw. “I know.”

 

“Look, I’m not trying to hurt you,” Cora said, leaning forward. She clenched her hands together. “It’s just. I can see it in your face. This isn’t home for you. Not like it is for me. Not like they are for me.”

 

“And I’m not home for you anymore?” he asked. He couldn’t help the bitterness that seeped into his voice. He’d grown so much since they were first reunited. He knew he had but every now and then that old rage would crawl up from the blackest part of him, choking the life out of him. 

 

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Cora snapped, eyes flashing gold for just a second. She never had been good at keeping control. “Beacon Hills is where you belong, Derek. It’s where you’re needed.”

 

“And what about what I need?” Derek asked, letting the fight slip from his shoulders. He looked Cora in the eye and waited for her answer. What about what he needed? What about what he wanted? Was he supposed to be tied to that town for the rest of his life? Forced to walk the same streets that his dead family had? Cora had gotten out. She didn’t know what it felt like to have every footstep haunted with the ghosts of their past.  

 

Cora licked her lips and looked to the side. Derek knew she was trying to find the best way to say whatever it was on her mind. Something that Derek had learned was a very un-Cora-like action. Cora Hale was never one to mince words, never one to think too hard before speaking her mind. It helped that she could always back those words up if it ever turned out badly. 

 

“You need Beacon Hills just as much as it needs you,” Cora said slowly. She looked back at her brother. “I know, okay? I know how hard it is being there, remembering everything that’s happened. But. It’s your home, Derek. They’re your pack.”

 

Derek stiffened slightly. They hadn’t talked about the Beacon Hills pack since he’d arrived in Peru. It had been an unspoken agreement. They would talk about their family, Cora’s new pack, the packs that Derek met through his journeys but not that one. 

 

“You will always be my brother,” Cora said, reaching out to grab his hand. He squeezed her fingers tight and nodded. “But you’re not pack anymore, Derek.”

 

He’d left a week later. 

 

The loft is dusty when he pulls the door open. It would be since he never bothered to try and rent it out to anyone else while he was gone. He drops his bag and tried to breathe through the cloud of dust that greets him. Derek sighs and heads to the closet to try and find a broom or something. If he’s going to live here, it should be . . . livable. 

 

Three hours pass before the loft looks like it did before he left. He sits down on the couch and stares around the large space. It feels empty. Colder than it had before. He knows that it's the smell. There’s nothing anymore but cleaner and metal and the must that’s still fading. Derek sighs and leans back, looking up at the ceiling.

 

Cora had said this was home for him. He knew she was right. Could feel it in every part of his body. But now that he’s here, surrounded by everything that is Beacon Hills, it doesn’t feel like it. He feels just as much on the outside as he did before he left. 

 

***

 

It’s cold out. Colder than Derek expected when he left the loft. It’s not surprising that he doesn’t have a thick enough jacket. Peru tended to be warm and he’d forgotten just how miserable winters can be in Beacon Hills. 

 

He shoves his hands into his pockets and stares at the lot of trees in front of the grocery store. He hasn’t had a Christmas tree since he was a teenager, not since the fire. He’d never gotten one with Laura. There never seemed to be a want. Not when they were the only two left. Not when they were on the other side of the country, trying so hard to keep going. 

 

He doesn’t think about it before marching over to the lot. He wanders through the pine, inhaling deeply. He runs his fingers along the branches as he inspects the trees. He doesn’t want anything too big. It’s just him, even if he has the space, and he doesn’t want to have to spend a fortune just to decorate it. Besides, decorating the tree was a family thing and Derek was home but family? He wasn’t so sure about that. 

 

He’s settling on a small tree, not that much taller than himself, that’s kind of crooked when a familiar scent slips through the smell of pine and cold. He looks up, brows drawing down in concentration. He’s alone in his little row of trees but he can hear laughter not that far away. 

 

Derek abandons his crooked tree without a second thought, nose slightly in the air so he can keep catching that smell. He can hear Stiles first, naturally, loud and obnoxious. Then Kira’s soft voice and giggle. He hears Malia’s heartbeat started to pick up just as he walks out of the trees. 

 

“Derek,” Scott says. He doesn’t smile or show any sign of being happy to see Derek and it’s not surprising. He didn’t expect anything else, to be honest. 

 

“Where the fuck have you been?” Stiles snaps, pushing himself away from the Jeep to stand in front of Scott. Derek rolls his eyes. Again, he didn’t expect anything else. “Don’t roll your eyes at me!”

 

“Stiles,” Scott says softly, putting a hand on his shoulder to pull him back a little. He shrugs at Derek in apology. Derek shrugs back. “We didn’t know that you were back.”

 

“Just a few hours,” Derek says, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looks away for a second, trying to find something to say, but he has nothing. “Peru.”

 

“What?” Malia asks. He looks at her, notices her crossed arms and how she’s standing in front of Kira slightly like Derek is a threat. 

 

“I was in Peru,” he repeats. “Visiting Cora.”

 

Stiles opens his mouth to say something but Scott elbows him in the side before it can come out. He groans and leans back against his jeep, resignation clear on his face. They all stand there awkwardly for another minute before Kira steps forward, wrapping Derek in a hug. 

 

“Welcome home, Derek,” she says softly, holding him tight. Derek pauses for a second, looking at the other three over Kira’s head before hugging her back. “And merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Kira,” Derek mumbles. There’s a warmth in his chest that’s making it hard to breathe. It feels like the first time in a long time that someone has hugged him like this, like he was special and important. It’s almost too much. Especially after he’s been gone for so long with no contact, no explanation. 

 

She pulls away and smiles at him again, eyes a little watery. She squeezes his upper arms before going back to Malia, grabbing her hand and leaning her head against her shoulder. Something else that was new. Malia raises an eyebrow at him, daring him to say something. He just smiles softly. 

 

“How long are you staying?” Scott asks, breaking the moment. There’s a hardness in his voice that Derek isn’t used to. A hardness towards him that Derek hasn’t heard in years. It makes that warm feeling from Kira go very cold, very fast. 

 

“I haven’t decided yet,” he says. Scott nods before looking at Stiles. Derek doesn’t know if Scott is looking for approval or some sign that this is all okay. “I can go.”

 

Scott’s eyes snap back to Derek at that. They’re wide and searching. For what? Derek doesn’t know. Has he ever known when it came to Scott? He thought that he was getting there, understanding the young Alpha but then Mexico and Kate happened and all Derek could think about was getting out of Beacon Hills. 

 

“No one said you have to leave,” Stiles interjects, throwing his arms up. “You’re so dramatic. I think I’d legitimately forgotten how dramatic you are.”

 

Derek raises an eyebrow and chuckles. Leave to Stiles to break the tension of a moment. 

 

“Thanks, Stiles,” Derek said, making sure he sounded as sarcastic as possible. He narrows his eyes at Derek, mouth starting to fall open like it does when he’s annoyed and searching for the perfect comeback. “I’ll let you know if I’m leaving town again.”

 

“Okay,” Scott says. He frowns slightly and looks down before letting out a slow breath. He looks up at Derek and some of that hardness from before it gone. His face is soft and open like Derek remembers and it makes that warmth come back, makes the urge to run away disappear. “Welcome home, Derek.”

 

***

 

The tree is set up in the corner next to the window. He’d bought a tree stand and a little rug to put under it to try and tame the amount of pine needles that will inevitably fall. He puts water in the stand and makes sure it’s not getting hit with too cold of a draft. He admires it’s crookedness and nods and walks away. He almost forgets that it’s there until two days later. 

 

He knows he should get decorations but he’s still moving back into the loft, getting all those things that he hadn’t thought important before. Cleaning supplies, sheets, towels, rugs. Those things that make a place a home, makes it more than the place you sleep and crawl back to when you need to lick your wounds. 

 

He doesn’t think about it but Derek knows that he’s settling. Nothing feels right in this town - so much has changed but he feels right. He feels it every morning when he wakes up and hears the town around him. Cora was right. This is home, even if Derek has fought it for years. 

 

This is home. 

 

***

  
  
  


A week passes before he hears the familiar sound of Scott’s bike pulling up to the building. He goes to the door, dragging it open before going back to folding laundry. Scott comes in slowly, cautiously, looking for any hint of danger.

 

“Scott,” Derek says as he put a shirt on a hanger. 

 

“You’re still here,” Scott says simply, putting his helmet down before closing the door. 

 

“I told you I would let you know if I was leaving,” Derek reminds him, eyebrow raised. Scott at least looks bashful for a second. “I’m not . . . I’m not leaving without saying something. Not again.”

 

“I know,” Scott replies with a sigh. He looks up at Derek with that same soft smile he’d given him at the tree lot. “I just . . . why are you back, Derek?”

 

“That’s what you want to know?” 

 

“That’s what I want to know, yeah,” Scott says with a firm nod and there’s that hardness. God. What happened while he was gone? “You were gone. You . . . I know how hard it is for you. Being here. But you left. You got out. Why did you come back?”

 

“This is home,” Derek says slowly. It’s not an elaborate answer but it’s the truth and after everything they’ve been through, Scott deserves the truth. Scott nods, accepting his answer for what it is. He looks around the loft, eyebrows slowly rising. “What?”

 

“Nothing,” Scott says, looking back to Derek quickly. Derek stares at Scott, waiting for the real answer. “It just . . . looks like someone actually lives here now.”

 

“Yeah, I live here,” Derek says, gathering up his clothes to put away. Scott follows him into the bedroom area, shoes softly scuffing against the floor. 

 

“Duh. I mean, like, you have things and . . . a naked Christmas tree?” Scott says, pausing to point at the tree. 

 

“I’m going to decorate it,” Derek says softly. There might be a bit of a pout but Derek refuses to even acknowledge that. “When I get decorations.”

 

“You bought a tree when you didn’t have decorations?” Scott asks, sounding far too amused. Derek glares at him as he hangs up his shirts. He didn’t come home to be berated by a teenager about his lack of Christmas decorations. Scott laughs a little and nods, looking away. “My mom has a bunch of old ornaments in the basement that we don’t use anymore. You know. If you want.”

 

“I can get my own ornaments, Scott,” Derek replies with a sigh. He looks at Scott for a second before going back to his clothes. “I’m fine. You don’t have to check up on me.”

 

“Maybe I just wanted to see you,” Scott says with a shrug that seems too practiced to be casual. “I mean, you were gone for a long time. A lot happened.”

 

“Nothing that you couldn't handle,” Derek says with a pointed look. Scott’s still here. Stiles, Kira, Lydia, Malia. They’re still here. Whatever happened. Whatever monster came howling in the night. Scott and his pack took care of it.

 

Scott huffs out a bitter laugh and shakes his head, “I’ll come back with the ornaments.”

 

“You don’t have to do that,” Derek says, turning to face Scott fully. His jaw is clenched and Derek can see a slight shake in his hands. He frowns in confusion, listens to Scott’s steady heartbeat. “Scott?”

 

“I have . . . I’ll bring the ornaments by,” Scott says quickly before spinning on his heel and leaving. 

 

***

 

Scott comes back the next day with two bags full of ornaments and stringed lights. He’s all smiles when he walks through the door and Derek almost forgets the strange conversation they’d had the day before. It’s nice almost. To be near Scott and hear him laugh and talk with him when their lives aren’t in danger. They’re checking the lights for any dead bulbs, sitting on the ground in front of the tree when it changes. 

 

“I died,” Scott says softly as he pulls out another dead bulb. “There was this guy. Theo. He . . . he tricked us all. Turned us against each other. And I died.”

Derek is so still he’s not even sure that he’s breathing anymore. He’s dropped the string of lights and is just staring at his hands. 

 

Scott died. That. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to him. Not to Scott. 

 

“I got better,” Scott says with a small laugh that Derek doesn’t believe for a second. Derek looks up sharply, seeing that hardened look in Scott’s eye again. He doesn’t think before he’s reaching forward and pulling Scott into an awkward hug. “Uh . . . Derek?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Derek mumbles into Scott’s neck. “I’m so sorry, Scott.”

 

Scott sighs and wraps his arms around Derek’s torso. He turns his head and presses his face to Derek’s neck. He inhales deep and Derek does the same, drowning in Scott’s scent. 

 

“I should have been here,” Derek whispers against Scott’s skin. “I never should have left.”

 

Scott pulls away, a hand cupping Derek’s cheek, “No. Absolutely not. You had to go. You had to and it was the right decision.”

 

“Scott,” Derek says, shaking his head. Scott smiles and it doesn’t reach his eyes but Derek will take it. He’ll take whatever sunshine Scott is willing to give him. 

 

“I told you, I got better,” Scott says, pushing Derek’s face gently. Derek rolls his eyes and smirks the slightest bit. “Come on, these lights aren’t going to finish themselves.”

  
Derek nods and sits back, finishing his length of string lights. Scott jokes and nudges his shoulder and smiles. He’s trying so hard to put Derek at ease, so Derek laughs and jokes back. He tries to. Tries to give Scott whatever it is he needs right now. He’ll give and give until that smile reaches Scott’s eyes again and then. Maybe. Beacon Hills won’t be home anymore but Scott just might. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am super out of practice writing Teen Wolf and, let's be honest, writing from Derek is not my strong suit. But I tried! Hopefully, someone likes it?


End file.
